The Difference a Day Makes
by Bryon Nightshade
Summary: Two very different groups struggle against Robotnik. In Knothole, Sally prepares a raid so desperate she's resorted to training Tails; while a thousand kilometers away, animals fight just to survive.
1. Chapter One

_Disclaimer: This story contains characters and situations of essentially two varieties: those the author created and owns, and those he didn't and doesn't. Essentially, everyone on the Southern Continent is an original creation; everything and everyone on the Mainland is owned by one or more of the following: Sega, Dic, and Archie Comics. This story and the creations of this author are copyright Sam Durbin, a.k.a. Bryon Nightshade._

* * *

The Difference a Day Makes

* * *

At approximately 5 a.m., the alarm went off.

They let me sleep in, thought Jan Matra idly.

Then she was out of bed, grabbing at her armor vest and reaching for her blaster. The vest was simply too hot and bulky to sleep in, but it was always necessary to keep it close at hand. It had become almost a second skin, and more and more Jan found herself too tired to take it off.

The vest was a composite of materials designed to absorb and disperse heat. Developed by the Kingdom of Acorn's researchers during the Great War, it was mass-produced as armor for the Kingdom's soldiers. That mass-production had occurred here on the Southern Continent, where the Kingdom kept the majority of its manufacturing bases.

The Southern Continent was almost on the other side of the world from the Mainland, and the Kingdom had always controlled the sea. Much as they'd wanted to, the enemies of the Kingdom—the Northern Cabal—had never managed to invade the Southern Continent during the war, so the Kingdom had used the Continent as a giant factory.

All of these things had made the Continent very desirable for Robotnik—and very difficult for him to handle.

As Jan ran, she checked her two weapons. Her blaster was low on energy, as usual. It could never seem to hold a charge for long. She'd have to try and salvage a newer one. Her other weapon, a small welding torch, had a few canisters of gas left. These torches had been common tools for forging and manufacture, and the citizens who still lived on the Continent had a fair supply of them. At close range, they could slice apart Swatbot armor with ease.

The rough walls of her cave soon led to a door. She passed through the door into the Hive's command room.

"What do we have?"

Her voice betrayed more of her fatigue than she wished, but it was assertive enough to get the responses she needed. Tosul, the tireless rat whom practically lived in the command room and whose reliability Jan depended upon, spoke to her without turning from his monitors.

"Looks like a standard column of twenty. Correct that. They have one of those new class F tanks, and a vanguard of twenty-five Swatbots. Formation: 5, 10, 5, tank, 5."

Jan's mind was so attuned to the meanings of the numbers she had no need to add meanings in her mind. Five Swatbots as scouts, ten shoulder-to-shoulder as a firebase, five reserves, the tank, and five rearguards.

Aside from the tank, it was as normal a formation as the shape of a blaster. They only made blasters according to one mold.

"Tosul," Jan said, "why isn't Gaunt here yet?"

"Not sure, but I've got someone headed to fetch him. They should be back soon."

Good old Tosul, Jan thought. She set about reacting to the situation; she'd be ready when Gaunt arrived. "What's their location?"

"Grid 3, block A. Speed is about 5 kliks, headed up the canyon to the North. We detected them about five minutes ago. They took some time to begin moving, but they're making steady progress now."

Jan took Tosul's information as it came, quickly fitting it into her stream of thoughts. Robots don't need time to 'organize', she thought. They were waiting five minutes, for… what? Something isn't right.

"Any word from Observatory?"

"Nothing. They haven't responded in any way."

Jan cursed. If Observatory was saying "Nothing", that was safe. But if they didn't say anything, that had the potential to be very, very bad.

"We've got to know what's up there. Send a message to Observatory requesting information."

Now more animals began to enter the command room. All bore firearms and some amount of armor. Jan turned to her runner, a lizard known as Skink. She always thought the name derogatory, but he didn't respond to anything else. "Skink, move to Observatory. We may have lost contact with them, and I need to know what's in the sky right now."

Skink nodded quickly, then took off, gone almost before she could turn her head to follow him.

"Tosul, is it possible there's a problem with our connection to Observatory?"

"Of course it's possible. I'm getting no readings on the comm. If it were just Observatory keeping quiet, I'd hear something."

She turned and barked her order. "Comm team, move out!"

This was the group of animals responsible for the upkeep of the communications gear and the relays that connected this particular Hive to Observatory. Each knew only a portion of the connection, so that their capture wouldn't reveal too much and their death wouldn't hurt too much. Of course, the full schematic of the gear was available to all. Few held any desire to inquire about it.

Next she turned to the armorer. "Is that cannon repaired yet?"

He shook his head. "Negative. We just don't have the parts…"

The laser cannon was a field piece from the Great War days, and one of the few things the Hive had that could hurt a tank at range. Unfortunately, it hadn't been operational for… come to think of it, Jan wasn't quite sure. For a moment, she tried to remember what year it was. Then she shook her head, discarding those thoughts. She had more urgent matters at paw.

She dispatched three animals to monitor the enemy directly. Only one would be actually observing; the others would use tight-beam, low powered transmitters to relay the information to the Hive without being detected. It helped to conceal everyone's position, and the Hives had learned that even the most heavily armed Hive also depended upon secrecy for its defense. However, given that there was no word from Observatory, she gave them the order to stand by until she signaled them to move out.

Her fatigue slowed her, interfered with her operations. How many times have I done this? She wondered hopelessly. Far too many. Why don't those bots just give us a break? One day without Swatbots would be a relief. One week would be a vacation. One month would be paradise.

About then Gaunt arrived. Jan wasn't sure of the moment, because he never announced himself; she simply turned around after giving an order and saw him standing there. "Gaunt!"

"What do you have?" he said, unrushed and unperturbed.

She was unsettled, as always, but turned to talk to him. He was almost worthless for his own tactical mind, but talking helped to order her thoughts. "A group of Swatbots and a class F tank, moving through grid 3, into block F now. I've dispatched monitors to check up on them. We have no word from Observatory, so I dispatched the comm. team and Skink to be sure. As standing assets in the area we don't have much, though if we were desperate we could lure them back to the trump card."

"Would you want to use the trump card?"

"It's not a big enough force to warrant it, but that doesn't mean this isn't bad. It's not the bots that worry me, it's the tank. It can't get to any of our entrances or vulnerabilities, since it's a tracked vehicle, but it can provide support to any bots that want to. Those new class F's have much better turret systems. They can turn all the way around and have good firing arcs. There's very little we can do about it. We've got fuel grenades and torches, but that's it."

Fuel grenades meant concentrated fuel cells that were then shot by a marksman, igniting the fuel. Their use was always tricky, and their numbers limited.

"Thoughts?"

"We can't do much until we get word from Observatory. Even then, I think we should sit still for a while. This could be just another joy ride." Joy rides were simple provocations, a probe by Swatbots to see what the Hive would do to them, forcing the Hive to react and wearing it down.

"Even so, the prudent thing would be to prep for combat in case it isn't."

"I agree, but we shouldn't deploy out of the Hive until we've got more information. Specifically, from Observatory."

"You know what to do."

"Right." She turned. "Combat team two, get to entrance 5b. Team one, come with me. Tosul, keep in contact with me. The other teams should finish assembling soon. I want to know when they do."

"Gotcha."

All the animals were moving before Jan finished talking to Tosul. At least they're on their toes, she thought.

* * *

At approximately 8 a.m., the sun woke Sally up.

The warmth of the sun slowly worked into her fur, warming her skin nicely and causing her to smile contentedly with her eyes closed.

Oh, to stay there! Some day, Sally thought, I'll sacrifice a day and just lay in the sun. I'll bring food so I can snack occasionally. I'll just lie out in the grass and warm myself in the sun.

It was such an appealing thought that Sally very nearly got started on her plan right then. As it was, she flipped the covers back and slowly pulled herself away from her bed.

She walked around and stretched a few moments to get the blood flowing. Then she reached for Nicole and opened her.

"Nicole, today's agenda, please."

The computer began immediately. "Supervision of new hut construction to accommodate Knothole's growth. Two wind-gens have broken, you and Rotor must investigate. Breaking out food from storage so the kitchen stores are full. Final stage planning for tonight's raid. A nap."

She laughed slightly. "I put a nap on my agenda?"

"Yes, Sally."

"I guess it would be the best way to be ready for tonight." She stared longingly at her bed in the sun, but then closed the shutters. No need to tempt myself, she thought. Quickly she changed out of her nightgown and donned her vest and boots.

Tonight would be a raid, and compared to it, sun bathing was a greater temptation than ever.

* * *

Tosul's voice over the intercom was clear. "Swatbots are still advancing."

Anxiety no longer caused Jan to sweat. Instead, her insides began to burn. "How long has it been since I dispatched Skink?"

"Fifteen minutes."

Skink might be starting on his way back then. Or he might be dead. There had been no word from Observatory; Tosul would know to tell her if such word came.

His voice came again. "Enemy units are now crossing into block U."

So close! Not just to this entrance, but to many things!

"Gaunt, I think…"

"No, Jan."

"But…"

"You thought your plan through. You knew then what might happen, and then you had a clear head. Don't start second-guessing now."

His words cut through her like ice. Her panic began to subside, but her stomach continued to burn.

Of course the reason for not leaving had been to not give away their location. Now the enemy was so close, they were sure to find the cave if the attack group left it. But if the enemy climbed the path, they would find the cave anyway. The only hope was to turtle, to hole up and not draw attention. Perhaps if they'd hit the Swatbots earlier… but without word from Observatory, how could they be sure if THAT wouldn't be a disaster?

They couldn't. She'd made the right choice.

The right choice in a deck of nothing but rotten choices.

Why wouldn't her stomach stop burning? It wasn't as if she'd eaten something bad. The gunk they had to serve now was nutritious but utterly bland, with the taste of flour and the consistency of brick mortar. It wasn't known for being hard on the stomach, just the palate.

She wondered if any of the other animals had problems with their stomachs.

Once again, her day had barely started, and she just wanted to go back to sleep and forget it all. Yet even that was a rotten choice.

Minutes crawled by with agonizing slowness. The only disruption was Tosul's voice, occasionally relaying reports and updates. Most of those were bad news, too.

The comm. team reported that there was nothing wrong with the gear on their end. Three of their members were checking the line between the Hive and Observatory, and they would get back later than Skink. The implication was clear: don't expect anything from Observatory until Skink gets back.

Where was Skink? Despite herself, she depended so heavily on Skink. She needed him to come through, but more importantly, she needed him alive.

At last Tosul's voice brought good news. "The Swatbots have turned around. They're heading back up the canyon. Looks like it was a joy ride after all."

She gave a sigh of relief and heard it echoed by at least one other animal in the attack team. "Thank you, Tosul, best news I've had today. We'll stay on alert a while longer, just in case something funny happens." She briefly considered pursuing the enemy and catching them, but she was so tired, and there were risks involved with that. Besides, there was still no word from Observatory.

She relaxed against the cave wall. It is common for someone to relax by passively thinking about something, or letting their thoughts flow freely. For someone in Jan's situation, where all thoughts were about war and flame and death, relaxing meant thinking nothing. A moment of non-existence was a relief when your existence was always your foremost concern.

"Jan! Problem here! New contacts!"

Oh no.

"Entering the sector, Grid 3, block A!"

No, no, no.

"Twenty… no… fifty… a hundred… cripes! There's no way to tell, they're overloading the scanners!"

No. No. No.

Tosul's voice controlled his panic and tried to help Jan examine the situation. "Of course. The twenty-five Swatbots were scouts. They were supposed to draw us out—a more serious joy ride. Once we commit, the main force arrives and wipes us out. Metronome is getting cleverer."

Of course, I can see that, damn you and damn Metronome and I just want some sleep…

Gaunt's voice, cold as bedrock, took over. "Jan. Take charge."

"The trump card," said Jan, instantly. Her attention was shattered. These thoughts were purely from her subconscious. "The Swatbots will retreat and join the main force. We pretend to harass the scout patrol and draw the main force into the canyon. Once there, we play the trump card."

"Won't we have to wait for Skink?" said Tosul.

Her conscious mind wailed at the words she now said, but she was in no condition to stop them. And, as far as the practical issue of living was concerned, they were the most correct. "It's irrelevant. If that main force starts moving before we're ready to destroy them, it won't matter if there's a Spy Eye in the air or not. If Skink doesn't return in the next minute or two, we'll have to assume he's dead and/or Observatory has been torched."

Tosul's voice, while shaky, kept her updated. "The main force has slowed to two kliks. Scouts report that they are doing a thorough search of all mountains along the path."

"Obviously looking for something," said Gaunt.

"Us," replied Jan.

"Jan, you know what to do."

"Yes," she whispered.

"Take charge."

"Second group, on my command, move to block F. Three minutes after deployment, begin decoy operations. First group, with me. Kal."

"Yes?"

"You will take the shot. We're using the trump card. All others: protect Kal at any cost, up to and including self-sacrifice. Tosul."

"Yes?"

"Skink."

"Hasn't… correction. He just came in the North entrance."

"Very well."

Fifteen seconds later, an amazing pace for any animal, let alone one who'd just sprinted cross country, Skink was speaking. "Observatory reports no Spy Eyes present. However, with large force mobilizing, they believe one will launch soon."

Jan didn't thank him. She couldn't. "All units, we're clear. Move!"

* * *

Sally, Rotor, and Bunnie inspected the windgens. "Well, Rotor?"

Two of Knothole's wind-powered generators had broken, and no one was really sure why. Inspecting them was Rotor, sitting on Bunnie's shoulders. "I'm not sure I can tell you why. But I can tell you what broke."

"That might be good enough. We should be able to figure out why from the what."

"Darlin', if you know what, can Ah let you down? Ah'm not all-robot, you know what Ah'm sayin'?"

"Oh, sure. Sorry Bunnie."

She kneeled down, and the walrus climbed off her shoulders. Bunnie stood, kneading her shoulder muscles. "Oh don't apologize, you'll embarrass me. C'mon, it's not like you're Robotnik, right?"

"Thank goodness," said Sally, ending the conversation in a stroke.

Bunnie couldn't respond for several seconds. "Somethin' botherin' you, Sally-girl?"

"Nothing I can't work through."

"That's a no-good answer!"

"It works for me," said Rotor.

"Rotor, honey, you don't need to defend Sally-girl's right to suffer!"

"I'm not suffering." Her tone of voice meant she would brook no argument. "Rotor, take Nicole. She has all the data on the windgens and my opinions. Bunnie, let's go to the new hut construction."

"Right," said Rotor, and scurried off immediately, talking to Nicole.

"Sally-girl, you can tell me."

Sally sighed. Well, what good would it do to keep this all to herself? If she had to tell someone, Bunnie was her best bet. "This raid tonight… it has two purposes. One I've told you. The other… do you know what day it is?"

Bunnie grasped it instantly. "The anniversary."

Sally nodded. "Today is the anniversary of Robotnik's takeover. And I wanted to give Robotnik something special to remember it by."

"Oh, Ah'm sure you'll do that. But Sally-girl, if it makes you sick the whole day, then what's the point?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on, Sally-girl! What good'll worryin' do? Unless you're plannin' to drop the ball when it's time, you don't need to worry your little ol' head so much. Just think how mad you'll make that old rustbucket when you knock him a new one!"

She had to smile. "I guess you're right, Bunnie."

"Ah know Ah am. Now c'mon, Sally-girl, we don't wanna miss the fun!" The rabbot had started running, and Sally had to jog to keep up.

"The fun of building a new hut?"

"Of course, Sally-girl! It means we're doin' well!"

Sally thought about it. She measures success here at Knothole by how many people are safe. Come to think of it, that's probably just as important as how ragged I can run Robotnik. Maybe I'm the one who gives him too much thought.

"You're a wise animal, Bunnie."

Bunnie just blushed.

* * *

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter Two

The gray and black of the mountains flashed around Jan's feet. Her conscious mind was still there, but her concentration was on her mission. How close was she to the target? Where were the enemies? Where was the next path?

Though the Hive's residents kept their paths as small and secret as possible, she and her team had no trouble navigating towards the enemy. They kept just on their side of the mountain.

Just when she had told them to, three minutes after deployment, group two began their demonstration. Jan and her group had one more mountain to climb, but they could hear the clanking of the innumerable Swatbots down below. The sounds of blaster fire rang out clearly. Group two had no chance of even inflicting many casualties; they would have the first shot and then have to retreat. There were just too many bots. Intellectually, Jan knew this, knew what they were supposed to do. She also had no control over them, and no idea what they were doing.

But they didn't have to inflict many casualties. They just had to draw the enemy to them.

Group one rounded the mountain. Jan saw at least a hundred of the Swatbots trying to climb the slope group two now hid behind. They were having a hard time handling rubble and loose rocks, but they were steadily climbing.

Several squads of Swatbots noticed group one, and turned to fire on them. Group one fired first, downing half a dozen Swatbots. Thirty Swatbots fired in return, raking fire up the mountain. Jan turned her head.

"Kal!"

With Swatbot fire all around him, he lifted his long-range blaster. He fired and was hit in the same instant.

The blaster shot lanced out to the other side of the canyon—and ignited a fuel grenade.

It had taken several months to set up the microcharges that were linked to the grenade. Now all that work was discharged in the blink of an eye. Those charges were scattered over the face of the mountain; as one they went off, shattering stone all over the mountain. The entire face of the mountain the Swatbots were climbing transformed into an avalanche of loose rock.

This was the trump card.

The Hive had dropped a mountain on the Swatbots.

The whole contingent, tanks and all, was buried and crushed beneath a storm of stone. Nothing survived.

But Jan had stopped thinking about such things. She was already headed back up the mountain to where Kal had stopped to shoot.

"Kal!" she cried in anguish.

His vest had been blackened by a blaster shot, and he'd smashed his head on a rock, but he was alive for the moment. Forgetting mop-up, she tossed her blaster away and grabbed at his body. She carried him back towards the Hive, washing his wounds with her tears.

* * *

So very carefully, Tails turned his body sideways. Using his tails for balance, he edged his way between the ropes.

Another meter! he thought. So close!

In that lapse, he let his arm drift. It struck a rope. Instantly the maze collapsed, and Tails was buried in rope.

He knew by now that to struggle would only get him more ensnared, but he expressed his frustration in the form of a scream.

Sonic was already pulling the control to untangle the kit. Tails worked his way out and joined him.

"Good job, Tails, you almost got it that time."

"You're just saying that to try and get me to feel better."

"Did it work?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Tails had to admit.

"There's a way to get past it."

"How would you know? You haven't done it!"

"Sure I have! How do you suppose Sal an' Rote an' I built it?"

"Aunt Sally?"

Sonic tried to quickly change the subject. "Like I said, there's a way. Two ways actually, an' I want you to find them both." He finished resetting the mechanism. "C'mon, lil' bro, try it again."

"Okay, Sonic."

Tails went around to the start of the rope maze. As before, he looked through it, seeing where he could go and where he'd fit. He ran into the same problem: the maze was just too big. He couldn't plan for the whole way. The last time he'd tried to improvise, it'd almost worked, but then he'd failed at the end. But something Sonic said changed his thoughts. Two ways?

Tails stepped back and looked at the ropes with a distant eye. He only knew of one way through the ropes that he could fit… then he laughed. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that before?

Because he thought that the only way to beat the ropes was to go through the maze. But Sonic or Sally or Rotor or whoever had made this didn't want to teach him just that.

Tails took a running start, launched into the air, and flew over the ropes, touching down on the other side.

When he turned around, Sonic was beaming. "Bingo, Tails. You got it."

"You wanna teach me to cheat?"

"How was that cheatin'?"

"I didn't go through the maze. I went over it."

"Lil' bro, Robuttnik doesn't fight fair. He draws up the rules so he can win. If we wanna beat him, we have to change the rules a little. Like this," he said, pointing to the maze. "Say we wanna hit a bot factory. The front door's guarded, so we can't get in, right? No. We cheat. We find an air vent. Or a tunnel. Or a skylight. Or we hide in a delivery meant for the factory."

"Why don't you just smash the bots at the front door?"

Sonic laughed. "It doesn't work that way, Tails."

"Why not?"

"Huh?"

"Why can't you just smash the bots? You do stuff like it all the time."

Sonic knew this wasn't going to end well, but it would be better to have this conversation now. The longer he waited, the more deluded Tails would get, and they could no longer afford to delude Tails. "Like it, Tails. There's lots of reasons why not. Some have to do with the mission. Some have to do with Robotnik's response. But the main reason is that I couldn't do it."

"Couldn't?"

"They'd shoot me."

Tails' expression showed he didn't understand such a thing was possible.

"Listen, Tails, 'cause this is important. Swatbutts aren't very accurate, but that doesn't mean we give them the chance. Not gettin' shot at it is better than tryin' to dodge. So we avoid 'em unless we have to."

"You're afraid of Swatbots?"

"'Course I am."

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything!"

I've gotta say it, Sonic said. Tails has to learn now. I just hope Sally knew what she was saying.

"Being a Freedom Fighter," he said slowly, quietly, "means being afraid."

Tails stared, wide-eyed, at Sonic. Sonic took a deep breath. This was going to be harder than he thought! And he wasn't Sally; he wasn't sure he had the words to explain to Tails what Tails had to learn.

Try something practical, the voice came. Odd, the voice sounded so much like Sally's. "Here," he said, parting some fur on his arm. "Whaddya see?"

Tails' face squished in disgust. "A scar."

"And here?"

"Another scar."

"And here?" Sonic was no longer parting his fur, just pointing to parts of his body. "And here, and here, real nasty one here…" he looked back at Tails. Despite the seriousness of the topic, Tails eyes looked like they were trying to pop out of his skull, which almost broke Sonic's concentration.

"Being a Freedom Fighter means being afraid. Afraid of your friends and family gettin' Roboticised. Of having your home destroyed. Afraid that, if you die, you won't be able to save them; and that if you're Roboticised, that you'll have to turn 'em in.

"But more than anything, it means being afraid of what Robotnik winning would be like. And being more afraid of that than dying."

Tails was nodding gravely. Sonic hoped that Tails was really absorbing this information. Otherwise he was scaring Tails for no reason, and he really didn't want to do that.

"Most of the animals in Knothole don't really know about Robotnik. I mean, okay, they may have had to run from him. Maybe they saw some Swatbots when they were escaping. But to them, Robotnik's just some bad guy in a far-off place. He doesn't matter to them everyday."

"That's what I thought," Tails admitted.

Yeah, thought Sonic, and now I've dragged you into the world of fear. Welcome, kid.

"Robotnik might not matter to us, but we matter to him. Every day, he looks for us. Every day he gets some new idea on how to squash us. And we have to stay ahead of him. We've got to move faster, think faster, and take more out. We've hurt him a bunch, but he's got a big head start. Kinda like if I was chasin' you to the Great Unknown, but you got to start halfway there."

Tails nodded.

"That's what we're so afraid of—Robotnik outrunnin' us and finding Knothole. Even Antoine is braver than most of Knothole, 'cause he knows Robotnik and all the bad things Robotnik does to the animals he catches. An' Antoine still wants to come with us, every time."

"So being a Freedom Fighter is being brave?"

Sonic shook his head. "Anyone can be brave. Ya just gotta be brave for the right reason. Being brave 'cause you don't know better, that's stupid, and you can't be a Freedom Fighter like that. Being brave 'cause it doesn't cost you anything, you can't be a Freedom Fighter that way, either. A Freedom Fighter is brave because he knows all the bad things that can happen to him, and then he says, "I'll do it anyway"."

Tails went to Sonic for comfort and a hug. "I don't know if I can be that brave," he said.

Sonic hugged him, stroking his head. "We weren't, when we started. We got brave, 'cause we had to. But Tails, you're better off than we were. We had to learn everything ourselves, but we can teach you. You'll be a Freedom Fighter in no time."

"I want to be a real one," Tails said with sudden determination. "I don't wanna be a fake Freedom Fighter, one that sits around the fire at night, an' listens to you brag, and thinks everything's cool. I wanna do this for real. If I'm gonna be a Freedom Fighter, I guess I'll need to be afraid, too."

You'll regret it, thought Sonic. There'll be days when you curse yourself for saying that. But we need you. And if you really want to do it, okay—I'll toss my lil' bro into the fire.

He smiled. "We'll get started right away," he said. And he hoped that the smile and the joke kept the pain off of his face.

* * *

Gaunt observed carefully as Jan returned to the Hive. He'd ordered the attack groups to do a quick salvage run, seeing if there was anything they could rescue from the mountain of rubble. Any still-functioning Swatbots would stand little chance against the torches at that range, so it was a safe move.

The communications problem had been embarrassingly simple. An errant footpaw or cart or something had unplugged the comm. unit at Observatory. To think that a tiny problem like that had nearly doomed the Hive, thought Gaunt. But he went back to contemplating Jan's condition.

She didn't come back to the command center, but went straight to the infirmary. Which is what needed to be done, thought Gaunt, to possibly save Kal. However, her command abilities had broken during the battle. In all probability, she would be useless the rest of the day.

Tosul coordinated the clean-up masterfully, with no supervision from Jan. But he was obviously fatigued, and Gaunt had the feeling he'd need Tosul's talents again later in the day.

"Tosul," he said. "You look really tired. I'll take over here."

"I can go another hour or two, Gaunt."

"No, you can't."

"Well, at least let me finish…"

"Tosul, go take a nap."

Without another word Tosul left his seat and exited the command center. I'd no choice, Gaunt reflected. This was the first incursion. But if my source inside Metronome is correct, it won't be the last.

Out of the Hives that had been built after the coup, this was the one closest to Metronome; for this reason it had the highest proportion of soldiers to refugees, and it had Jan herself as its leader.

This Hive normally had twelve combat teams of eight to ten animals each. But battle fatigue and inevitable casualties were catching them. Three combat teams were below half strength, and one had been destroyed altogether. Of the remainder, three had fought yesterday, and two this morning. While Kal had been the only casualty, everyone else was exhausted. That left three teams usable, with today's fighters in reserve. In a true disaster, of course, everyone was a combatant, but Gaunt would run his combat teams to the bone to prevent such a disaster.

Run them to the bone. He repeated the thought. Or, in the case of Jan, drive them mad.

* * *

Sally followed her agenda, going through the numbers of the dull but necessary routines needed to keep Knothole running. Bunnie accompanied her through most of it, which kept Sally in good humor.

"I guess you were right," Sally said. "Building that hut WAS fun."

Bunnie nodded. "Yeah. It's so neat to watch 'em just spring up like kudzu, straight outta the ground in no time."

The two headed towards the cellars. Another routine, breaking out stores of food for use in the kitchens. "Hey, have y'all seen sugar-hog an' Tails?"

"Yes. They went out this morning. Sonic called it a "training run", but he promised to be back before nightfall. Tails looked so happy, I couldn't really refuse."

What Sally failed to mention was that, like numerous other "training runs" Sonic proposed to Tails, Sally had been behind them before Tails knew about them. If you tell a lie enough, Sally thought, it's impossible to tell the truth.

"Ah think it's great for them to do that. They always have so much fun."

"Do they?" wondered Sally. She couldn't see how. Of course, she knew what Sonic was doing with Tails better than Bunnie did.

"Yeah! Like this one time Antoine walked through a bunch of fox-fire plants, an' Tails kept runnin' away from him that night, thinkin' he was some kinda ghost!"

What a relief—a story from a happier time. Sally laughed out loud. "Antoine was scary? How?"

"I 'eard zat."

It took no great effort to determine who had spoken. Sally and Bunnie were passing close by the main hall, and Antoine had taken up the hall's kitchen as his normal station. Although Antoine's initial attempts at cooking had failed horribly, he'd been incredibly persistent and plucky. Eventually he'd begun mastering techniques and recipes, and although he still produced an occasional inedibility, most of Knothole agreed that having him far surpassed their old do-it-yourself system.

"Antoine," Sally said, "you're… shall we say… not imposing."

"My Preencess, forgiving me please, but you are tinking in the stead of zat I am ze great fyu-el, no?"

"You're a great chef, Antoine," said Bunnie.

"Why, zank you, only ze greatest and delicadedest palettes know French cuisine for… do no change ze subject!"

"What were we talking about?" wondered Sally.

Antoine began to sputter but, remarkably, recovered his bearing. "I do not have to take zis 'or-i-ble abuseness. Pear-haps I am being no ze chef, and zat styupid hedgehog cook ze food instead?"

"No, Antoine!" exclaimed both Bunnie and Sally.

"Fine, zen. I will be turning again to my kitchen. Au revoir, my preencess."

Bunnie and Sally glanced at each other, then back to where Antoine had been. "I believe you, Bunnie," Sally said. "Antoine can definitely be scary."

* * *

To be continued…


	3. Chapter Three

Kal would live.

Jan was sure of it now. When they'd taken his armor off it became evident that the blasters hadn't burned through very much. Most of the fur on his chest was incinerated, and he had some harsh burns, but the most life-threatening injury was a possible concussion from his fall.

Of course, if that knowledge was supposed to make her feel better, it hadn't. Not in the least.

Kal was the animal she most cared about. She had convinced herself, long ago, that if not for Robotnik Kal would have made her a mother by now. Instead, she'd nearly made him a corpse.

She sat by his side now, holding his paw. She sat in a chair facing him as he lay on a bed. It was her fault that he'd been shot. Naturally, the Swatbots fired on the greatest threat, and the animal carrying the largest gun was the biggest threat. The largest gun was the long-range rifle Kal had been using to hit the fuel grenade. By setting things up the way she had, Jan had guaranteed that every Swatbot in range would fire on Kal. In truth, it was a miracle things weren't worse.

And it was her fault.

His eyes opened. He'd been drifting in and out of consciousness. The doctors here were always running low on medication, so the only thing they could do from a chemical point of view was anesthetize him to dull the pain. They had other, well practiced burn treatments, but only the anesthetic to treat the pain. But they hadn't given him much, because of the danger of concussion. The result was that he still went blank at times, and still felt a great deal of pain. Of all the possible outcomes, this was the worst.

He squeezed her paw. "Hi, Jan." His voice was drowsy but clear.

"Hi, Kal," she managed.

"Did it work?"

"What?"

"The trump card."

"Yes," she said bitterly. "You hit it."

"It was worth it, wasn't it?"

"I don't know."

"Sure it was. There was no other way. It would have been worth it if I had died."

"No!"

"Why not?"

She was bitter, some at him, most at herself. "I've tried not to care about you, but I can't. I don't know… if you'd died… Damn it, why couldn't you just be a worse soldier? I wouldn't have to use you like this!"

She started crying again. "Well," said Kal, cautiously, "it's good that we have good soldiers, isn't it?"

"Not when they're you," she said. "Kal, I don't think I'll ever be able to give you orders again. I love you too much. I love you, and yet I have to order you into combat, where you can die… I can't do it!"

"Then I won't come back," said Kal.

"What?"

"The Hive needs you more than it needs me. If you can't give me orders, then I won't fight."

"What a cold reason," Jan said bitterly.

"What do you want, then?" he said, her bitterness rubbing off on him.

"I don't know. I'm tired, Kal. I want to be a wife and a mother. I want to make something grow. I've fought for too long, and I've got ulcers, and my mind is breaking down. I close my eyes and I see burning Swatbots marching down a canyon. And everyone depends on me. I just want it all to go away."

She was supposed to be here to comfort Kal, but she went to him for comfort. Broken, she crawled to his side and buried her muzzle in the pillow beside his head.

She wept some more. When she paused for a moment, she withdrew back to her chair. She wanted to talk to him, but she couldn't. He'd drifted back asleep.

* * *

Tails was panting heavily as he crossed a line drawn in the dirt.

"Way to go, Tails!" said Sonic. "That's a supersonic job you did, way past your last try."

"Sonic, you know what?"

"What?"

"Training isn't fun anymore."

"C'mon," said Sonic evasively, "how fun was hide-and-seek with Antoine? Puh-lease, he could never hide!"

"Sonic," said Tails, annoyed, "I mean it."

"Yeah. Well…" Sonic scratched his head and avoided Tails' eyes. I have no idea what to say to that, he thought.

"Sonic, you didn't design this, did you?"

"Design what?"

"This obstacle course. Or that rope thing. Or the stuff we've been doing the past two weeks. I don't think you came up with it."

"Why not?"

"Because if you're training with me in the day, and hitting Robotropolis at night, you don't really have the time to make all this stuff up."

"True. Besides, I'm not that creative." No harm in admitting that, he reflected.

"No more 'tracking' stuff or things I'd use in the forest. All the exercises we've done have been about Robotropolis, right?"

Tails was hitting them all. Sonic couldn't lie to him, not that it would do any good. "Right."

"The training's gotten really hard since then. An' it getting hard and it being about Robotropolis came at the same time."

"Uh-huh, two weeks ago."

"So, since two weeks ago, someone is trying to make me a real Freedom Fighter. A scared one. And it isn't just you."

"You're on a roll, big guy."

"Who is it?"

"I think you can guess this one, Tails."

"Aunt Sally would never let me be a Freedom Fighter!"

"Guess again, Tails."

Tails paused for a moment, surprised. "Sally did all of this?"

"She designed it. Rote an' I built it. Rote doesn't know everything, but he does know we're training someone real tough. Sal decides what to teach you, an' how. She's behind you all the way, lil' bro."

Tails looked confused. "I thought Sally just wanted me to be safe 'n happy."

"More than anything, Tails. She loves you more than anything."

"Then why is she letting me be a Freedom Fighter?"

"I only kinda know," said Sonic. "Part of it was she saw somethin' that made her think we're farther behind. She's nervous now, she knows somethin's up. She knows you can be good, way past good at this. The other part… It's 'cause she loves you."

"What?"

"It's like you said. You wanna be a Freedom Fighter, you wanna do it right. Sally doesn't want to train you to die. She loves you too much. If you're gonna be a Freedom Fighter, she'll make you the best one she can."

Tails still looked troubled. "Hey, don't think it's easy for her. It tears her up. I talked to her about it, when she first decided to do it. Have you ever seen Sal cry? She did that day."

There was a long silence, then Sonic hopped up. "So! You wanna do the obstacle course again, or do we blow past it and move on?"

"I'll do it again," said Tails quietly.

* * *

The only sound was the pitter-patter of Skink's feet. He was headed to the infirmary, hoping Jan would still be there.

She was. Why Skink had thought otherwise was beyond him.

Skink waited for her to notice him. A few minutes passed as he waited, but Skink was patient.

"Hi, Skink."

There, she'd noticed. He opened his eyes and approached. "I am here," he said. "I bring you some things."

He slung the backpack off of his shoulders. First was a blaster. "Since Jan dropped her blaster, I got her one. I made sure it works," he said as he handed it to her. "No charge drain on this."

"Are you sure?"

"It was mine."

Jan looked up at him. "Then you won't have a blaster," she said.

"Skink will find one. All those Swatbots in the valley. Won't be hard."

She looked unsure, but said nothing, so Skink moved on. "Food for Jan," he said. "Jan had no breakfast and it's almost lunch. We need Jan to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

Skink said nothing, merely kept unloading the food for her.

"I said I'm not hungry."

"I can not say what Jan must do," Skink said hesitantly. "It is important that Jan eats."

"Important? To who? I'm sick of doing things for the Hive."

"Do it for Skink?"

Jan was still for a moment, then dropped her eyes, unwilling to look at Skink. Skink could not understand what Jan was thinking, so he decided to press on. "There is a plant on this mountain. When crushed, it makes a liquid that heals burns."

He produced a vial with a pitifully small amount of liquid. "It won't heal Kal alone, but it will help."

Jan stared at him in disbelief. "How much of this is there?" she asked.

"Only one plant," he said. "Yes. Only one. I took some of it."

"Is there more?"

Skink shook his head. "I had to leave some. For the plant to grow." That was part of the answer, anyway.

"Why use it now?" she said. "Kal is going to live."

"So Jan will be strong."

"What?"

Skink struggled to say. "While Kal is hurt, Jan is hurt. I don't like Jan to be hurt. So if I help Kal, I help Jan."

Jan accepted Skink's gift with a trembling paw. "Thank you," was all she could say.

But 'thank you' was all Skink needed.

* * *

Sally was working in one of Knothole's gardens. There were so many things she loved about it. Aside from the fact that it produced fresh vegetables, which helped liven up the sometimes dull Knothole diet, working in the gardens just felt good. Doing something with her paws was relaxing and fulfilling.

It was also one of Sally's quiet spites. If she could make something grow, it was like laughing directly to Robotnik's destructive face.

In the distance, she heard Sonic's approach. He wasn't running at maximum speed, which gave her a few seconds before he arrived.

She stood up, easing the kinks out of her back, and left the garden to welcome them. Surprisingly, she thought, Sonic had kept his word and returned before nightfall. Well, since she had to work with him to finalize the night's raid, maybe he'd realized it was a good idea to be responsible. You know, just for a change of pace. Not that he'd do it again.

Sonic had slowed down almost completely—slow for him, but a fast sprint for a normal animal. There was the reason, next to him—he was pushing Tails to run the last part of the trip home.

They crossed whatever finish line they'd established and slowed to a fast walk. Sonic supported Tails by putting the kit's arm over Sonic's shoulder. Tails looked tired but happy.

"Hi, you two!" called Sally as she approached them. "Welcome back."

"Yo, Sal!" replied Sonic. "What's happenin'?"

"You haven't been gone that long, Sonic," said Sally.

"Ha, ha," said Sonic. "Not funny, Sal."

"How are you, Tails? Did you have fun?"

"I guess so," said Tails, dubiously.

"What did you two do today?"

"He knows," said Sonic simply.

That stopped Sally in her tracks. She looked at their faces: Sonic with an odd flat expression, as if waiting for the next move; Tails with a shadow on his face that had never been there before.

Sally's emotions swirled, each passing in turn. She briefly felt mad at Sonic for revealing everything, but Sally let that go; she wasn't sure she would have been able to hold the truth from Tails. Then again, what good would holding the truth do?

It would hide her shame.

Yes. Her shame at allowing Tails to enter her world. A world of pain and fear.

She dropped to her knees and hugged Tails. She pressed her cheek to his. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Tails wasn't sure why Sally was acting so weirdly. Then he felt something on his cheek: a tear.

She was crying—but in a way only Tails could know. He hugged her back, and his anxiety grew.

Sally stood up. "You two must be hungry," she said, acting as if nothing was wrong. "Sonic, you two go eat. After you're done, put Tails to bed, then come to my hut when you're ready."

"Sure thing, Sal," he said. "C'mon, big guy, I'll fix us some chili dogs."

"All right," Tails said, pretending more enthusiasm than he felt. But as they walked, he felt again the tear on his cheek.

It burned him, but he had no desire to wipe it off. It was an expression to him, a gift, of so many feelings words failed to express.

Pain and guilt in doing this to him. Fear in what might happen. Happiness in his maturity, and sadness in the same. Shame in the covert manner she'd been using. Inadequacy in the job she was doing. Trepidation in the approach to his future. Hope for something later.

And love. Love that could only be expressed by this painful gift, unseen by eyes but real as a slap in the face. Or a tear.

* * *

"Tosul, it's time to wake up."

"At least let me finish what I'm…" started Tosul. He shut up, feeling stupid; that conversation had ended hours ago. Gaunt had done it to him again.

Gaunt's voice came over the intercom. "Tosul, please report to the command room."

Naturally, thought Tosul, who was already moving. Tosul didn't wear armor and rarely went around armed; he was of more use to everyone in the command room. If there was a circumstance when he needed to have a blaster, he was unlikely to make a great difference.

Tosul's room was close to the command room; he was there in no time. "Here I am," he said. Gaunt stood up from Tosul's place, and Tosul sat down.

Tosul immediately began gathering needed personnel: the armorer, the three available combat teams, and—most painfully—Jan. While he contacted some of them, he could divide his attention and gather incoming data. This was why they needed him: no one was faster or more accurate at interpreting the data from the magnetic detectors in the valleys, and he could do it while contacting people.

But for Jan, he'd need all his attention. She was badly shaken up from this morning, so getting her to come would be tough.

"Jan," he said, "please come to the command room."

"Why?"

Because from what I see on my monitors, we're toast unless we've got your mind, he thought to himself. But he controlled his tongue. "We need to talk to you."

It was obvious she knew there was trouble afoot, but she allowed herself to believe it wasn't bad. "Okay."

Thank you, Jan, thought Tosul. You're the difference between a defensible Hive and a doomed Hive.

Tosul continued to gather data. "Observatory, is there a Spy Eye active?"

It was nice to have Observatory respond, but the response itself only made matters worse. "Confirmed," came the answer from Observatory. "Clarify, one Spy Eye active, three reserves."

THREE reserves? That alone was enough to make Tosul break out in sweat. Spy Eyes were rare here, because of the mountains' powerful magnetic anomalies that never failed to wreck Mobians' hover technology. Spy Eyes in the mountains had a life expectancy of about ten minutes. By using them sequentially, they could expect to have observation for close to forty minutes. If they were willing to sacrifice four Spy Eyes, they were very serious about this drive.

But Tosul could tell that just by the numbers. Thirty Swatbots for the vanguard alone! This force was not as big as the one they'd trumped, but the difference wasn't tremendous, and they had no trump cards left.

Tosul began to call up the two combat teams that had fought once today. That made five in total, which still felt totally inadequate.

I don't know how we're gonna squeeze out of this one.

Jan arrived in the command room before he finished. "Is it that bad?" she said.

"Yes," Tosul said. "We've got close to a hundred and twenty Swatbots coming in through grid 5, block B. We have a half-dozen exits in that grid, and the Swatbots are in visual range of 3. The other 3 will be in range within the next fifteen minutes. The enemy has Spy-Eye coverage and will for approximately thirty-five minutes."

It got harder to say as he kept talking. He could only imagine how mind-numbing it was for Jan.

He watched her through the reflection on his monitors. She seemed inert, her face completely blank.

Jan, he thought, please. I know it's hard for you. I hate to have to ask this of you, but we have no choice.

Please, Jan. Please.

Gaunt didn't ask her.

"Jan, look at me."

Gaunt moved and stood in front of Jan. Tosul could only see Gaunt's back, but got the impression he had grabbed her muzzle.

"No! Don't touch me!" screamed Jan. She knew what was coming, but it was too late.

"Jan! Look at me!"

"No!"

"Jan! Take charge!"

Tosul, in the reflection of his monitors, saw Jan's flailing limbs grow weaker. She gave a full body shudder and seemed to stall, but immediately she sprung back against him. "No! Let go!"

"Take charge!" Gaunt repeated, his voice filled with force.

"No!" Jan was still trying to defy him, but her voice was growing weaker. Her arms were dropping to her sides. She was becoming as a child now, futilely fighting someone bigger and stronger. Still she fought, but she was losing.

"Take charge!"

"No! Please, don't do this!" She had almost nothing left. Gaunt's force of will was overpowering her; her strength was bleeding from her body. She wasn't challenging him anymore; she was begging him, her voice plaintive and helpless. Her will was on its last legs; she was desperate. "Please! Let me go!"

Gaunt repeated it one last time. "Jan, take charge!"

She was broken. The breath seeped out of her. The room grew deathly quiet and far colder. With that command, her body went slack. If not for Gaunt holding her up, she might have fallen.

Gaunt eased her into a chair and stepped aside. "Jan, we need to stop the Swatbots."

"We'll sacrifice two of our exits," she said, immediately. Her voice was dull and lifeless. "We'll dispatch combat teams to our exits. We'll draw the Swatbots in, then destroy the exits and any bots that follow us. Two runs of this treatment, while they may not stop the offensive, will bleed it. Two combat teams to each exit we plan to use, a fifth for clean up."

"You know what to do, Jan," said Gaunt. "Take charge."

Jan rose and approached Tosul's position. "What are the positions of the exits in the area?"

Tosul wiped away his tears and struggled to regain his composure. "Um… here," he said, drawing up the map.

"Deploy the teams," she commanded him.

"Yes, ma'am," he whispered.

* * *

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Four

Sally adjusted the hologram to get a closer look at the factory. She said, "Nicole, show plan for deployment for the next three minutes."

Sally watched as the colored icons, each representing a Freedom Fighter or a Swatbot, moved around the hologram. So far, so good, she thought.

Sonic let himself in. "I put Tails to bed. The sun's not even down, but with a day of exercise and a full stomach, it was easier than a kilometer sprint."

"Speak for yourself," Sally said.

"I was."

"As always. I forgot."

"No prob. Forgiven." He walked over to the table. "So, how's it comin'?"

"I almost have it down. My secondary mission I've planned already."

"Sure you wanna do this? C'mon, just one of us can help cover you."

"Sonic, I've already decided." Her voice was firm.

"I don't want you going alone. You're goin' straight down Buttnik's throat!"

"If someone else comes, it'll…"

"It'll only get harder, I know, Sal, but it scares me."

"For someone who's always itching to go solo, you worry about other people going solo a lot. It's flattering, but awkward."

"Yeah, I know, but that's 'cause I can't help someone else who goes solo. When I go solo, I can manage it, but…" he shrugged. "Besides, we don't know what Robotnik'll have defending there. I know you've got two diversions, but what if he's got something…"

"I understand, Sonic. I'm glad you care so much, but I really think it's a risk worth taking. To make it work, we need you to do what you do best, and whether it works or not, I have to try."

"Gotcha. I gotcha, an' I agree, but I don't have to be happy 'bout it. Hey, who's that icon?" he asked, pointing at the hologram.

Sally abruptly put Nicole down. She paused a few moments. "Sonic, if there's a God, do you think he'd damn someone who put their children into battle?"

It took Sonic a few seconds to answer. "I donno," he said. "Do you think that what the kid wants matters?"

"I don't," she answered. "It's the responsibility of the parents to know better. That's why the parents have the authority over the kids."

"But Tails has no parents," Sonic said with a smile, "so you're clean."

"Don't joke about this, Sonic!" Sally snapped. "I'm not kidding. I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm not."

"So we're Tails' parents?"

"The closest things he has."

This time Sonic paused. "Look at it this way," he said. "If we don't use him, Robuttnik wins, right?"

"Maybe not," said Sally.

"If he's not gonna make a difference, why are we usin' him?" Sally didn't answer, so Sonic plunged forward. "Well, why's it bad to use him?"

"Because we're sacrificing his happiness, and maybe his life. We're plunging him into a world of despair and fear, and because we're his parents, it's our fault." She extended her hand in a Mobian gesture meaning 'give an answer'. "Is it right to sacrifice all that for any reason?"

"Can we win without him?"

"So you're saying that all that matters is how much of an impact he'll have? It's like that old joke. Instead of arguing about whether whoring is good or bad, we're just haggling over price."

Sonic knew how deep Sally was disturbed, because she was getting positively vicious. Sonic answered her. "Yeah, that's what matters. 'Cause if we can win without him, it's bogus to use him. But if we need him an' don't use him, we'll all end up dead anyway."

"But if we need him and use him, he's got the chance to be happy later, and we can beg his forgiveness then."

Sonic's head snapped up. "You… you'd already thought all this out!"

"Some, yes. But I didn't trust my own reasoning. I had to have your thoughts, because Tails' future is too big a thing to entrust just to me."

Sonic smirked. "Sal, everyone entrusts their future to you. Every day."

She managed to grin-grimace back. "Scary, isn't it?" She shrugged helplessly. "I love Tails too much. It scares me. How am I supposed to lead him into danger if I can't even bring myself to train him?"

"Sal, it's because we love him that we're doin' this, right? We've gotta do it right."

She nodded. "Which puts the onus back on us, his parents, to do it right. How any species reproduces successfully is beyond me." She shook her head, then looked back at Sonic. "Is the training going well?"

Sonic laughed. "He's scarfin' it like a plate of chili dogs!"

"Good. Because that icon is Tails."

Sonic's jaw dropped to the floor. "Woah, Sal, you can't be serious!"

"I am. We have to have him."

"But… but…"

"Sonic, is he ready?"

"No," said Sonic immediately. Then he grimaced and looked down. "Well… what would he have to do?"

"Nothing much. Just help out Bunnie. I wanted him to get a little experience at this."

"Sal, every part of me says no..."

"But?"

"But he can do it. He's not juicin' at top speed, but he can cruise."

"I'm sorry for springing that on you, but I only finished deciding it myself a few minutes ago. It… it wasn't easy." Now that Sonic looked, he could see that her eyes were still watery, and knew that it was true. "Sonic, see if you can take a nap. I'll go down myself. In two hours, meet back here with Tails. I'll get Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine."

"Got it, Sal."

* * *

Gaunt was shaken up. Never had Jan required so much effort. As if Tosul's inability to see sense without help wasn't bad enough, Jan's resistance to her duty was on a level Gaunt had never seen before.

Metronome was pushing them all to their limits. Gaunt himself was drained by his contest with Jan. That iron will of hers may end up our undoing, thought Gaunt with disgust.

Now the battle was not going so well. By Tosul's count, maybe a dozen Swatbots had gone down in the initial burst, but several soldiers were hit, and now the Swatbots were pressing them back. The soldiers needed to cause more damage before they got to the entrances, because only so many Swatbots could be destroyed at once.

As the Swatbots neared the soldiers' original positions, Jan ordered a brief counterattack. Gaunt was disbelieving, but his faith in Jan's tactical mind was renewed. She'd ordered her troops to leave fuel grenades where they began the battle; now they set them off, causing much damage amongst the Swatbots.

"Good job, Jan!" called Tosul. She doesn't care about your opinions right now, thought Gaunt. She's focused on the job.

Again she ordered a fighting withdrawal, trying to keep her forces intact as they fell back to the sacrificial entrances. More Swatbots went down, but they made up for it, as two more soldiers took hits.

Even if we stop this, thought Gaunt, we may be hard pressed to keep it up. I desperately hope my source at Metronome is wrong. Many more attacks like this and there will be no one left to fight.

* * *

Tails hadn't believed Sonic when he woke him up. Go to Robotropolis? On a raid? Tails had trouble wrapping his mind around it. And now here he was, staying all but on top of Bunnie, trying to keep from sneezing or coughing or any number of other natural reactions to the rancid Robotropolis environment.

It wasn't like he'd imagined. This was the first time he'd gone so deep into Robotropolis. Sure, he'd been to the edges every once in a while, but he was in the heart of the industrial sector now; it was a far different thing.

Particles of filth stuck in his fur. The combination of poor lighting and noxious fumes was hurting his eyes. All manner of pollution and chemicals burned his nostrils. The city looked like a prison and felt like a living monster, patiently sapping its victims' strength before devouring them.

The city itself seemed to rise up against them. All its properties made it unfit for animal life. The city defied them, antagonized them, ate away at them. There was a palpable malevolence in the air. The city seemed to declare to them, with smog and fog and dirt and grime, You're not welcome here!

Tails understood why everyone cared so much about restoring Mobotropolis. They remembered what it was like. They told Tails it was kind of like Knothole. If that was true, then Tails felt a part of their motivation: such a perversion of that city to this THING was a violation of every value they had.

Bunnie was moving too quickly to give Tails much of a chance to get scared, but the city was still overwhelming. It was a never-ending blot of shadow and smoke. Tails was completely disoriented. Every street looked and smelled the same, dark and rancid.

Bunnie stopped suddenly. Tails had the presence of mind to freeze behind her. Her ears twitched for a few seconds, then she turned back to Tails. "Y'all okay, sugar?"

"I'm okay," said Tails, not sure he believed himself.

"Ah'm not sure you should be here, but Sally-girl says you need some experience, so we're gonna bring you in."

Sally, you wanted to do it right, thought Tails. You wanted to make me a real Freedom Fighter, a scared one. Well, it's working.

"Y'all remember what we need to do?"

"N-no," sputtered Tails. He was doing all he could to try and keep up with Bunnie, and do so quietly. As if he'd been able to hold any coherent thoughts in this place!

"Somethin' about knockin' out alarms for Sonic?"

"That's right," he babbled. Is that right? How should I know?

She shook her head. "Sally-girl was right. It's too much yer first time out here. You just stick close to me, honey. We're the tail-end of this, anyway."

"The tail-end?"

"Sure."

"But Sonic's gonna hit here, right?"

"Yeah," said Bunnie, "but the real action is Sally-girl. That's why Rotor an' 'Twan are headin' for the HQ."

"So we're the diversion."

"Sally-girl is gettin' mighty smart, sugar, an' so are you!"

Bunnie started moving again, and Tails once more struggled to keep pace. I thought I was fast, he thought ruefully. Well, I am; I'm just not fast and quiet at the same time. And I've never had to run in Robotropolis before.

I've never had to run in a city that wants to eat me.

Bunnie slowed down, then paused behind a shattered building. "Okay, sugar, one Swatbot to clear," she said. She pointed around the corner. Tails couldn't see the bot, but could see the alleyway the bot was down.

"I'll clank the bot," Bunnie offered. "You get his attention fifteen seconds after Ah leave. Then it's lights out. Got it?"

"How do I get his attention?"

She shrugged. "Make somethin' up. Okay, start countin'!"

Tails was amazed. His counting to himself was louder than Bunnie dashing down the street. He almost counted past fifteen, but he caught himself saying "Fourteen," and started moving.

There was the bot! It was pointing its blaster at him!

"Hey!" Tails shouted. "Sonic's got your number, pal!"

He saw Bunnie landing behind the Swatbot. It began to drone out, "Freeze, Freedom-Fighter," but it was interrupted by a heart-stopping crunch. A fist-shaped indentation lunged towards Tails from the Swatbot's chest. Tails jumped back in surprise; the sudden noise had caused every hair in his body to puff out. Bunnie let the bot fall, dead.

"Sonic's got his number, but Bunnie Rabbot'll do fer now!" she said. "Now Tails, keep a look out. Ah'm gonna do the black out."

Tails could hardly think; his pulse was extremely high, and if he'd been scared before, he was terrified now. He knew, in a remote sector of his mind, that she was on a clock; he also knew that even when they were done here, it wouldn't be the end of the mission. Although they were supposed to move position, they had to stay in the city in case something strange happened.

He tried to drown his fear with concentration. Bunnie said to be a lookout; that, then, was his job. With utmost care, he looked around, watching for anything. He was concentrating so hard on staying alert that he heard it way too late: a second Swatbot was almost on top of him!

Tails backed up the alley and dropped to the all-fours position Sonic had taught him. He wasn't thinking consciously; it was all instinct. They'd given Tails a knife to carry in his backpack; he drew it now and waited.

The Swatbot came around the corner and aimed a shot. Tails was moving, so the shot just missed him, scorching some leg fur but not hitting him. Now Tails was in range. He dashed past the Swatbot on its left. As he passed, he slashed the knife across the back of the Swatbot's left knee.

Just as an animal has tendons and ligaments in its leg, and when those are cut, it's crippled, so did Swatbots have rods and wires that allowed them to move, and Tails cut these. Oil spurted from the joint as the bot fell. It was still dangerous, Tails knew, so before it fell he had already turned around for another pass. He leaped and stabbed the knife down, plunging it into the Swatbot's right wrist.

Now the Swatbot had two limbs inoperable and its blaster hand pinned. Tails had immobilized it, but it could still call for help. Before it could, though, Bunnie finished it off.

With a screech of tortured metal, Bunnie jumped and planted both metal feet on the dome of the Swatbot's head. The blow pulverized the bot, smashing its head in. It would never call for anything.

"That's mah Bunnie hop," joked Bunnie, seeing Tails at his wit's end from surprise. "C'mon, sugar, let's get somewhere where they're more friendly. Ah don't like their kind."

"Yeah," said Tails. He was preoccupied. He rubbed his leg where his fur was scorched by the near-miss of the blaster shot. He tried to guess just how close it had been. Way past close.

This wasn't like training.

This wasn't cool.

* * *

They fought for every centimeter of the entrance. They were extremely convincing. The Swatbots clumped together and pressed the attack in very high volume. They were falling right into the trap.

Fuel grenades were effective at first, but they were too dangerous to use this deep in the cave, so the soldiers lost their ability to take out numerous Swatbots at once. Without this, they just kept getting pushed back—and taking casualties.

This was the final corner. Jan shouted, "Team 1, fall back!" Half of her remaining soldiers ran for the elevator behind them. She kept firing, nailing another Swatbot in the eye.

Three seconds later, she called, "Team 2, fall back! Sprint!"

They could outrun the Swatbots if the bots weren't expecting it, and team one had been carrying the wounded.

As they ran, she heard that terrible cry of someone getting shot. She couldn't turn to investigate; she just kept running. Most of combat team 2 arrived with her at the elevator, but two of the animals were missing. Jan looked back up the corridor and saw one animal trying to drag another towards the exit.

"Wait for us! Please! Jan!" They were fifteen meters from the elevator.

"Run!" shouted Jan. The Swatbots were running, now, and Swatbots could run quickly.

The animals were ten meters away. The bots rounded the corner. Jan's tactical mind knew they were out of time. "Hurry!"

"Jan! Please!" She could make out the terror and desperation on their faces, could see their plaintive and trusting eyes. One with hand outstretched, as if trying to reach into Jan and find something to pull on. Jan's heart leaped in her chest, but there was nothing it could do; her mind was firmly in control.

How many battles have these animals been in? How many times have I led them out of danger?

I couldn't this time. And quickly as that, I've written them off.

I hate myself!

The bots were close now, almost as close as the wounded. Jan couldn't wait any longer. She twisted the lock. The animals screamed in denial, but it was too late. The elevator doors slammed shut, and the elevator dropped quickly. It took all of Jan's strength, but she pushed the small button on her detonator.

Everyone in the elevator felt the tremor. It was the death cry of two souls as they collapsed the cave, annihilating Swatbots with their deaths.

The pain and terror of the slain was wrought ad infinitum over the bots. Not one survived.

I've made the sacrifice, Jan thought.

Then, abruptly, her control snapped. Her sorrow swept in like a wave, crushing all her faculties and focus. She dropped to the floor and let out a mournful wail the likes of which combat teams two and one had never heard.

* * *

To be continued…


	5. Chapter Five

A lot of thought has gone into this operation, Sally thought. I've done as much as I can to make sure it will work. All that's left is to see how well it does work.

Sort of an empirical way to prove my skill, she thought with a smile. Science doesn't often work to describe people, but this seems like one instance. Think of it as an experiment, with the variable being tested "Sally's skill".

This is getting downright grotesque. Focus, Sally!

Nicole had broken the code to allow the door to open, but Sally had to wait for the alarms to go down. She'd entrusted that to Rotor and Antoine. Provided something hadn't gone totally wrong, something she would have heard about by now in the form of sirens and alarms, she'd have her window in fifteen seconds.

To be safe, she waited until three seconds after when they were supposed to have cut the alarms. Still stingy, but time was tight. Then she opened the hatch, went through, and closed it behind her.

Quickly she dashed through the tunnels and vents. She was on a strict timetable, and all her work would be undone if she wasn't quick about it. As she moved, she grew more and more nervous.

Now I know why my thoughts wandered so much, Sally thought. I didn't want to think about this.

Straight into Robotnik's lair. Into the throne room her father had lost all those years ago. It was a homecoming of sorts.

Yeah, right, thought Sally. If it's a homecoming, it's a nihilistic one. I always imagined that I'd come back here to restore my father's rule. Instead, I'm here just to destroy the rule of someone else. How perverse. Just another thing to put on the bill Robotnik has yet to pay.

Robotnik, you won't soon forget this day!

She checked her watch. She was ahead of schedule, but not by much. By now, assuming all was going well, Sonic was penetrating the R&D lab, Rotor and Antoine had plugged the HQ's alarms back in and were heading home, and Bunnie and Tails were rolling towards Sonic's position.

And Sally's other diversion had just made itself known.

She had planted it exactly two days ago. The Roboticiser was protected from most sabotage by a sophisticated bomb-detection suite, among other things. But this wasn't really a bomb; it was a container holding two otherwise innocuous chemicals, separated from each other by a chemical barrier with a precise, predictable lifespan. When the barrier ran out, the chemicals combined explosively, and the Roboticiser fried.

That was the plan. And according to her timetable, the barrier should have gone down precisely five minutes ago.

She was close enough now to hear their voices. "Sir, the Swatbots at the Roboticiser room report that there is no Freedom Fighter in the area."

Robotnik's voice was that of a lion that's just been poked in the eye. "What caused the damage?"

"They're investigating that, sir, but can't understand what caused it."

"This doesn't make sense, Snively. The princess isn't stupid. Why would they sabotage the Roboticiser like that? They know we have plenty of replacement parts!"

How odd to hear Robotnik compliment me, Sally thought, bemused.

"I don't know, s…"

"Snively! Run a cross-city scan. I want reports from every Swatbot, hover unit, and alarm suite. I want to know if there's anything out of the ordinary."

"Running, sir. Sir, there's something wrong with the alarms at R&D station twelve!"

"Of course!" Robotnik shouted. "Snively, deploy all reserve Swatbots from Headquarters to R&D station twelve!"

Sally's heart skipped a beat. That was fast, Robotnik! You're getting better. Luckily, we're one more step ahead.

"Sir…"

"Do it!"

"Yes, sir."

"Idiot, sabotaging the Roboticiser was a diversion to bring our attention home! The hedgehog is going to attack the R&D station!"

Snively gasped. "You were right, sir! Swatbots are reporting the hedgehog is already inside!"

Robotnik slammed his fist against his iron-clad throne. "Argh! What's he doing there?"

"Apparently… sir, he's erasing the memory of the mainframe."

"How?"

"A simple magnet, sir."

"A magnet! Oh, the impudence! Get those Swatbots there on the double! Divert normal patrols! I want that hedgehog!"

"Yes, sir."

"A magnet," Robotnik seethed. "If it's not one thing, it's another. Ooh, I hate him!"

"Your bad day is just starting, Robotnik!" Sally shouted. With that she burst from the duct and stormed towards the throne.

Robotnik was caught completely by surprise, but he wasn't unprepared. He pressed a command on his throne and it dropped him through the floor. Sally had known that something like that was going to happen, so Robotnik had never been her real target. She was headed for the control console.

Snively was trying to get a blaster, but he was too slow. Even as he turned around, Sally delivered a flying kick to the chest that flung the lackey across the room. He was out cold.

Sally didn't even wait to see if he landed. She already had out Nicole and plugged her into the control console.

Robotnik's face, super-sized, appeared on the bank of monitors above Sally. She gasped for effect, but kept working.

"Stupid princess," said Robotnik angrily. "You missed."

"Stupid Robotnik," she retorted, with a happy undertone to her voice. "I wasn't aiming for you."

Robotnik noticed she was working on the computers. "What are you doing?"

Sally summoned up a glorious, spiteful smile that illuminated the room. "I'm crashing the Robotropolis mainframe!"

With the press of a button, it was done. Robotnik's stunned image was wiped from the screen.

Normally it was impossible to even access the Robotropolis mainframe. It was protected by an incredibly complex encryption suite, and only Snively and Robotnik had the access keys to get in. But Snively had been working at the control console in the throne room.

_And Sally had given him no chance to log out._

Sally was jubilant. According to her timetable, Bunnie and Tails were distracting the Swatbots enough for Sonic to escape with them. Rotor and Antoine were clear of any immediate danger. And she had a clear shot out of the HQ, into the sewer, and clear home to Knothole.

It was glorious.

* * *

It was brutal.

The final body count was twenty wounded, four dead, and one heartbroken.

Gaunt was dismayed. Where once had been close to five working combat teams, there were now two; two more were entirely made up of wounded animals, and the last was gone completely.

Now, even if he tried to rearrange things to close up the holes, he had, where once had been twelve, seven working combat teams and three 'reserves' made up of the wounded.

His information pointed to things getting worse, not better. His sources inside Metronome indicated that Robotropolis was sending perhaps another two thousand Swatbots to the Southern Continent. This Hive had fought and destroyed almost 300, and reports from other Hives indicated that they'd encountered very high numbers as well. All of their defenses, they reported, were being strained to their maximums. If those reinforcements came through, they had the potential to smash through several Hives before being stopped. At that point, though, it would be close to over for any Hive still standing.

He shook his head. "I have to have Jan working again. How can I restore her functionality before we're swamped?"

"Functionality? You think of her like she was a Swatbot!"

Gaunt turned in surprise. "Tosul? I thought you…"

Tosul moved faster than Gaunt had ever seen. In a moment the rat held Gaunt against the wall by Gaunt's throat. Gaunt struggled to breathe.

Tosul cracked a vicious smile. "Can't tell me to take a nap when you can't breathe. You're figuring that out, aren't you, Gaunt?"

Gaunt certainly was. He indicated so.

"Good. Let me tell you something, Gaunt. What you did today to Jan was flat-out evil. You were only supposed to help; you weren't supposed to strip our will. So I'll tell you now. If you ever… EVER… do something like that to her again, so help me, I will snap your scrawny neck!"

He pressed a little harder. Gaunt kicked a little; he began to black out, his consciousness wavered. Then Tosul dropped him.

Gaunt collapsed to a heap on the floor. He spent a few moments gasping for breath, not aided in the least by Tosul's friendly kicks. Tosul then turned tail and walked away.

"You…" said Gaunt, not wanting Tosul to leave yet. Tosul turned in the doorway. "You didn't stop me today. When it was… lose the Hive, or force Jan… you let me force Jan. Why?"

Gaunt had hit home. Tosul visibly winced. He took a sharp breath, then turned fully to Gaunt. "I didn't really believe what you were doing. I wasn't sure you were capable of it."

He pointed at Gaunt. "But remember what I said. I won't restrain myself next time."

Gaunt drew a cruel smile. "Tosul, go take a nap."

Tosul, after a moment's hesitation, turned and left without another word.

Talking hurt. Gaunt laughed, and that hurt, too. But in both cases it was worth it.

* * *

Never had Tails seen the faces around the campfire so bright. The citizens of Knothole were listening to the Freedom Fighters—and Tails was careful to make the distinction—tell their various stories. It was the usual patterns—Sonic all speed and attitude, kicking butt and taking names; Sally showing how everyone had caused the great victory; Antoine pompously self-important; Rotor too modest to take any credit and too shy to speak much; Bunnie full of aw-shucks modesty and how was that weather today?

Two things made it different. Today's win was much bigger than normal. As Sally had explained, the crash of the Robotropolis mainframe meant that Robotnik would have a very hard time running his city; it would take a minimum of a week for him to recuperate, and Sally was not planning on making things easy for him during that window.

The other difference was Tails himself. Someone had said, "C'mon, let Tails say what he did today!" And before he knew it, everyone was expecting him to tell about his piece of the action.

He himself was feeling sick to his stomach and didn't want to speak in front of anyone, and here half of Knothole was listening to him. "Well," he said, then coughed politely to buy some time. What can I say? He glanced around the Freedom Fighter's faces, looking for some clue from them. It almost caused him to seize up, but in the dim light, their faces looked drawn out, no longer enthusiastic but just tired. Exactly how Tails felt. They were letting their guards down now that everyone was looking away from them.

Yet another ugly part of being a Freedom Fighter, Tails decided. Acting like it's a thrill. It was a permanent semi-deception, and a necessary one—they needed everyone's support.

Tails gave the crowd a smile and settled on a middle road between Sonic's egoism and Sally's selflessness. "Well, I really owe a lot of it to Bunnie, because she was the leader. She got me everywhere we needed to go, because I was lost!"

The crowd took it as a joke. Ha ha, thought Tails. "Once we got there, though, we smashed them up!" The crowd cheered. "Bunnie and I got a Swatbot each, simple as that. Then later, when we were helping Sonic…"

"Tails, you know better than that," cried Sonic. "I needed no help!"

More laughter. The Freedom Fighter masks were back on, Tails saw. "Well, he got some help, anyway. Then Bunnie got three. I could only take down one, but that's cool."

"More than I got," said a voice in the crowd. Uproarious laughter.

"And with that," said Sally, "I'd like to conclude this meeting. Congratulations everyone! Good night, and sleep knowing we've taken Robotnik down a peg!" More cheering as the crowd dispersed. As things quieted down, Tails tried to leave, but Sonic kept him there.

"Just wait," he said. "We always meet after everyone's gone home."

Indeed, in about ten minutes, the only animals still sitting around the campfire were Sonic, Bunnie, Sally, Rotor, Antoine, and Tails. If Dulcy had been there, all of the real Freedom Fighters would be in attendance.

Sally waited to start the meeting. It gave everyone a chance to relax and clear their heads. Antoine shook. Bunnie stroked her ears. Rotor looked everywhere but at the fire.

"Tails."

It was Sally's voice. "Yes?"

"Welcome to the Freedom Fighters."

Tails scanned the faces of his friends in a new light. They all managed to smile for him and clap, but there was something hollow about it. It wasn't just like they were welcoming him; it seemed as if having him was helping them get over some kind of loneliness. But that was silly. How could a group be lonely…?

"I don't know what anyone else thinks, but this is good news. Robotnik will be on the ropes for about a week. I'm sure you all know what that means."

They nodded unenthusiastically. Sonic spoke for them. "It means get extra sleep, 'cause we're kickin' the can every night."

Sally nodded. "I know it's a lot to ask of everyone, but this is a golden opportunity to inflict some real damage on Robotnik. Anything we do to him now he can't begin to repair until he has his computers operable again."

"Sally," said Rotor, "I would think that taking down the Robotropolis mainframe would take longer than a week to fix."

"Well, it would have, if I'd told Nicole to destroy all the memory units. But the hard back-ups I left untouched."

"Why?" asked Rotor, flabbergasted. "If we destroy those, it could take a bunch of weeks for Robotnik to recover!"

"Because they're our past, too, Rotor. Robotnik didn't change the memory units. The memory units have all our records of the past, every word that a Mobian has written or said that we've kept… everything is in there. Robotnik is piling the records of his empire on top of it. It was impossible to topple one without toppling the other, so I left both."

Some of the faces around the campfire looked dubious. Tails couldn't understand—if every mission was so terrifying, how could Sally condemn herself to doing it longer?

Sally saw it all. She answered the unspoken question. "Remember, our goal isn't to destroy Robotnik. It's to restore the Kingdom of Acorn. There's a difference there we have to respect."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Destroying Robotnik at the cost of the Kingdom is no victory. Understand?"

More nods.

"Does anyone have anything they want to talk about?"

"Does it get easier?"

Tails was as surprised as everyone that he'd said it, but he realized the thought had been on his mind the whole time.

"I mean, does going on raids get easier?"

Their response was silence. "It might," said Sally finally. "It's gotten some easier for me. But it's different for everyone."

No one else spoke. "In that case," Sally said, "the meeting's over. I'll have Nicole begin setting targets for us. Sonic, talk to me afterwards. Everyone else: get some sleep!"

Bunnie stomped out the fire, and that was that.

Sally had been right about one thing. Tails did feel elated that they'd done so much damage. And in his first raid! As debuts went, that had been a doozy.

It was only as he lay in bed that night that the cold settled over him. His hands shook uncontrollably. He coughed, as if something from Robotropolis hadn't quite worked its way out of his system yet.

The shadows grew deeper, as if trying to suck Tails back to Robotropolis. Tails imagined he could see or hear the Swatbots approaching from the shadows.

He laughed nervously. Come on! he thought. I'm way too old to be afraid of the dark, let alone a memory.

A voice in his mind taunted him, "Then don't be afraid."

Tails shivered again. He rubbed the skin where the blaster had kissed him—just a touch, as if teasing him into wanting more. Tails' sensations were mixed, as the skin seemed to both burn and freeze. Burn because of the weapon's heat, as if he was still in the process of getting grazed; freeze because of the small part of him that the bolt had taken with it. Holding the spot made things worse, but Tails couldn't ignore it. It wouldn't let him.

Think if you'd been just a little slower, it suggested. If you'd skimped on your training and gone a little slower, accelerated a little later. If your instincts weren't as sharp. You would have been hit flush, in something more vital than a leg. A kidney, perhaps, or a lung. Or if you'd been faster, but just too slow; just as easily as you cut out the Swatbot's knee, it could have shot you full in the leg and crippled you instead. You would only have had to be a tiny bit slower for that outcome, but you would end up just as dead.

"Do they get like this?" Tails whispered as he stared at the ceiling. "Does Sonic get the shakes? Does Sally get the chills?"

I hope not, he thought, because it means I might grow out of it.

But he remembered the faces of the Freedom Fighters when he'd asked his question. Their faces had all said it, and their faces said it all. Sally had tried to comfort him. But their eyes had told the truth.

No, Tails. It never gets easier.

* * *

To be continued…


	6. Chapter Six

Jan wanted to resume her vigil with Kal in the infirmary. However, since Kal's condition was stable and required little additional attention, they'd "discharged" him to his room. To be perfectly honest, they'd simply shoved him aside to make room for more critical injuries. Triage, the art of prioritizing the hurt, was how the Hives managed to keep themselves going. It was also enough to rip a doctor's heart out.

So, instead, Jan sat with Kal at his bedside in his own room. The room was tiny, as there'd been little space in the Hive to begin with, but there was enough room for a bed and a chair.

Jan couldn't cry any more; her tears were run out. She sat in cold silence, trembling.

"Jan," said Kal, "what happened out there?"

"I killed people so that the Hive would survive," she said bluntly. "Oh, sure, I can say I had no choice, that the Swatbots were about to catch us all… But I can _see_ them. Whenever I close my eyes, they're there. They… they say… "We trusted you, Jan, but you were just a battle computer. You weren't an animal. You abandoned us because of what might happen. You killed us." And I can't say anything, because I know they're right… I can only say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

"A battle computer? Jan, you're the most compassionate…"

"You don't know anything!" Jan shouted, and she would have wept if her tear ducts weren't still in shock. "Sure I can feel compassion now, but I sold my soul long ago, and now all I can do is damn others! And whenever things get dangerous, goodbye, compassion. Hello, murderer!" She wailed. "And if I say I hate myself, then everyone says, "You did the right thing, Jan." Shit! They want to comfort me? If they wanted to help me, they'd lock me up or stop listening to me, because my words are death and my touch is hate!"

"Now you're talking nonsense!"

She looked at him. "You still believe I have worth? Well, let me shatter your last illusion, buddy. I made a deal with the devil, and I've paid it back in the blood of the Hive!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She reasserted herself, anatomizing her devil with excruciating precision. "The devil I'm talking about is skinny, with an angular face and the scales stretched tight over his body. He has small, weak limbs and a tube-like, narrow body. We call him Gaunt because he's skinny and weak and old, but he's all the more dangerous for it.

"Long ago, some Mobian snakes went sentient. Most never made it, but a few grew weak limbs and better tongues and eventually joined society. There were never many of them, because they retained one dangerous and deadly power: the hypnotism of those eyes.

"Those eyes gave them great influence, but also made them feared; most were killed off. But those that survived were smarter, more survivable, and more dangerous than ever.

"Eight years ago, this Hive was reeling from its losses to Metronome. We were breaking down. We were getting too tired and thinking too slowly. So Tosul and I asked everyone what they could do to help. That's when we discovered Gaunt. He offered to help: he would simply plant in us hypnotic commands that could be activated later. Tosul's was simple. Gaunt can tell him to go take a nap, and Tosul goes to his room and goes straight to sleep. He doesn't think about it, he can't; he just does it. And when Gaunt gives him the words to wake up, Tosul wakes up, fresh and rested. That's why Tosul can work such long hours.

"Mine was much harder. For me, I… I was stupid. I asked him—ASKED him!—to develop a command to strip my emotions. No more fear. No more anxiety. No more urge for self-preservation. Just me and the problem and the goal to keep the Hive safe.

"But Gaunt was too good a hypnotist. He discovered that all of these emotions were tied together with all my others. Compassion and empathy, he realized, got in my way by changing my goals. So he cut those out. But those were linked to more emotions, so then he cut more. And more. Soon, those eyes of his had chopped out most of my psyche. Like a surgeon who loves blood more than he likes healing.

"He woke me up and explained it to me… explained that I could be the computer if he just said "Take Charge"… and I thanked him!"

She shook. "I thanked him for making _me_ the biggest threat to this Hive! I thanked him for making me death!"

She collapsed upon herself. "But when I try to solve that problem… there are only two ways to stop my being a threat. I want to stop being the leader. But everyone says they need me, and I can't help myself, and I let that demon say "take charge" again and again until I become the computer! I fought him today, I fought him with everything I could, but I _let_ him curse my mind like that, so I couldn't stop him!

"And then when I want to… Damn it! Too many people love me!"

She sobbed without tears. "Why do you love me? Just wait! I'll kill you yet! You and Skink and Tosul… you love me… so I can't save you from me! I'm the mother that devours her children, and the children say, "We love you, mommy," as she kills them! Can't you stop loving me?"

She shook in her chair. "Please don't love me," she said. "Please, don't love me. I can't save you. If you love me, I'll kill you, because as long as you love me, I can't kill myself."

"You'd… do that?"

"Yes!" she screamed. "Instantly! Better me to die than you or anyone, I'm the murderer! But as long as you love me, the torture goes on, and my slaughter goes on."

He looked as if he wanted to speak. "Don't you dare try to contradict me here," she said. "I could best serve the Hive by dying. But you won't let me die!" She howled. "How's this for compassion! People love me, so I have to keep killing people!"

"Jan…"

"Don't love me! I love you, so don't love me!"

Jan fell from her chair to the ground. She collapsed into convulsions, frothing at the mouth. And Kal, unable to move because of his injuries, couldn't even call for help.

* * *

Robotnik growled as the hovercraft moved on. He and Snively were having an awful time trying to run the city without inter-city communications, as those had been run by the mainframe. All they could do was run around in the hovercraft, issuing orders directly from there and hoping enough bots heard them to get the order carried out.

The damage the Princess had wreaked with that simple attack had been crippling, Robotnik thought nauseously. Factory control, energy flow, requirements and production, Swatbot coordination, inventory and accounting of imports and exports, even work details for worker bots—all were run through the mainframe, so all were shut down now.

Robotnik had assumed it invulnerable, and why not? It was protected by the most complex and impenetrable encryptions, access points could get only the information needed and no more, and there was no hope of a physical attack. Yet the Princess had found the one weakness with the system—Snively—and had exploited it. Her skill at such things was downright uncanny, Robotnik thought uneasily.

Long-range communications still worked, and it was to that building that Robotnik and Snively moved now.

Robotnik was panting heavily by time they got to the communications room. Get out of the hovercraft, walk somewhere, walk back, get back in, go somewhere, get out, walk somewhere, walk back… Would it never end? This day was tiring him out quickly. A day when he could be sedentary was a good day. By that standard, this was the worst day on record.

Without being told, Snively began pulling up the communications logs since they'd last checked in. He skimmed the routine stuff, looking for anything important. There was something. "Sir, Swatbot Commander x-397…"

"Idiot, I don't memorize Swatbot serial numbers!" Moving around had made Robotnik irritable. Well, not just that; having your mainframe crashed would make anyone irritable, he thought. As if he'd apologize! He couldn't remember if he'd ever sincerely apologized in his life.

"The commander of the Southern Continent, sir," said Snively, obviously becoming nervous. Robotnik didn't like it when Snively became nervous; it meant he was trying not to say something unpleasant.

Robotnik grunted, unsure he wanted to actually hear what Snively was about to say. "I've long wanted to teach that one a lesson, but you can't motivate a Swatbot, and a replacement would do just as poorly. There are disadvantages to Swatbots."

"Well, sir, it reports that…" he swallowed, "it wants to know when its reinforcements will come."

"Reinforcements?"

Snively squeaked. "Yes, sir. We—we promised to send it the next few production runs of Swatbots, sir, and it based its planning off of that!"

Robotnik's voice was low and menacing. "Snively, I think I want to keep those Swatbots _here_! And it's not like those factories are working right now!"

"Yes, sir, but, you see, it based its planning off of having superior numbers…"

"AND?"

"…so it's lost almost a thousand Swatbots in battle today."

Robotnik ran through the full range of emotions he knew. He ended with plain stupefaction. "A… thousand?"

"Yes, sir," said Snively, whose eyes were now searching for the closest escape route.

Robotnik felt powerless. There was no way to undo the destruction of those bots; it was all but pointless to be angry with the Swatbot.

He hated feeling powerless. He recovered in a heartbeat.

"Snively, find a new commander Swatbot and tell it to take over the Southern Continent immediately. As soon as the new commander is in place, destroy the Swatbot currently in command there."

"Yes, sir."

Something had to be wrong with that Swatbot. No Swatbot had ever been that incompetent! Replacing it should correct the error. Even if it didn't, Robotnik would at least feel better. "Then cancel the orders to reinforce the Southern Continent. We haven't struggled to put the Continent's factories back together so that _we_ can send Swatbots _there_! Tell them to order those factories to increase production if they need more troops!"

"Yes, sir."

"Finally, see how many worker bots the other cities can spare. We need Robotropolis back up and running, and we need it _now_!"

* * *

The doctors had strapped Jan down in her bed. The infirmary was still far too full to waste room on someone who didn't need medical attention, but they couldn't let her free, so they'd tied her down. Skink sat there to monitor her.

Skink shook his head. He'd saved the last plant for her. The last plant that could be made into the burn-healing potion still grew on the mountain above. Skink had saved it so that, if Jan were ever hurt, he could save her. But he couldn't save her from herself.

She was still alive, but not of her own will. That was why she had to be tied down.

Skink was patient, but this was draining the life out of him. Jan had once been a vibrant, beautiful vixen. Her distant relation to the Royal family had been neither burden nor boon to her; she'd gained success and respect solely out of her own abilities. When the Kingdom had fallen, it was Jan who'd rallied the animals of the Continent. She'd led the resistance right from the start. Under her direction, it had taken Robotnik over a year to even get a foothold in the Southern Continent. And when the Swatbots finally overran the cities, it was Jan who'd led the survivors to the mountains to inhabit the newly-completed Hives.

Jan had fought for almost ten years without a break. And now it had finally caught up with her. Caught her and broke her.

Years ago she'd looked like the Princess of the Kingdom—the same beautiful eyes and face, if anything a better-proportioned, more appealing body, and a sharp and powerful mind. Guiding it all, a heart that had never failed and a will that had never yielded.

Now Skink could barely recognize her. Her body was weak from malnourishment and years of abuse. The once-sparkling eyes were bloodshot through and through. The hair was shorn short and hadn't been really clean in many years. The mind was submerged in the raging emotions that now consumed her.

Even with all that, it was the collapse of her heart that had most disfigured her.

But her will was intact.

As he watched, the reading that monitored her heartbeat was registering less and less activity. The same with blood pressure, brainwaves, and breathing—all were dropping for no apparent reason.

Skink knew the reason. She was willing herself to die.

Skink was ripped apart. What was he supposed to do? He was just a skink! Should he respect her will to die? Or should he decide that she shouldn't?

He decided.

He grabbed at her hands, feeling his rough scales scrape her soft skin. "Please," he said, "Jan can die at any time, but she can only live once."

All her vitals continued to fall, but he could have sworn he heard her voice. 'I know that. But for me, the end should be sooner rather than later.'

"Jan's time is not over!" he said. "If Jan lives, she has the chance to be happy!"

'Not so long as there's war.'

"The war can't go forever."

'Why not? It doesn't have to, anyway. Just longer than I can.'

"We just have to last a little longer. Robotnik was going to send Metronome reinforcements. But order was canceled!"

The brainwave monitor spiked. She knew what that meant. Skink explained it anyway.

"That means that whoever is fighting him is hurting him! We just have to live longer!"

The monitors seemed to stabilize a bit, then fell again.

'What does it matter? The life I'd live wouldn't be worth anything. I'd be haunted by the memories of my crimes. I'd be a miserable wreck with a miserable life.'

"But doesn't Jan want to make things grow?"

The monitors stopped their fall.

"Jan! Jan!" said Skink, excited and desperate. "Jan wants to make things grow! That's what Jan can do after war! Skink can't do that, Skink can only run. Tosul can't do that, Tosul can only talk."

'I can't do that. I can only kill.'

"No, Jan, Jan is wrong! Jan can help everyone! There are many kinds of seeds. Seeds of plants, yes. Also seeds of hope. Seeds of future. Seeds of rebirth. Only Jan knows how to grow those seeds!"

The monitors wavered.

'No one would follow me. I've killed too many.'

"Hive has followed Jan because Hive knows Jan loves Hive. If Hive dies, then Hive's time to die. Not Jan's fault."

'But it is! It's my job to save animals, not kill them!'

"And Jan has, better than anyone. Better than without Jan."

'What if I get everyone killed? I won't have saved anybody!'

"Then no one could save Hive. Still not Jan's fault."

'So I'm your best choice? Me?'

"Choice Hive has made. Skink loves Jan. Kal loves Jan. Tosul loves Jan. Hive loves Jan."

The monitors hovered. In sudden inspiration, Skink reached back and ripped off his tail. There was a moment of extreme pain, and then it went numb. His tail wiggled and squirmed in his paw, thrashing from evolved survival instinct that hadn't had the time to become obsolete.

He pressed the tail into Jan's paw and closed her fingers around it. It struggled to escape.

"Jan, tail has killed animals. Let tail die instead of Jan. Yes. Tail will die for Jan."

She squeezed it hard. "Yes, Jan! Put Jan's sins on tail. Then Skink will throw tail to Swatbots. Let Swatbots have sins. Put sins where they belong. Yes."

It took a few more minutes, but the tail stopped convulsing, and Jan released it. Skink gingerly picked it up, then held Jan's paw in his free paw.

Slowly but surely, the monitors rose to more normal levels.

'I will never fight again. I could never do it. Nor will I ever carry a weapon. Even if it means my death, I'll never fire again.'

"Skink knows Hive will accept Jan anyway."

A few moments of silence.

'Thank you, Skink.'

"Skink just doing best Skink can. Skink loves Jan."

He left, bearing his severed tail.

* * *

To be continued…


	7. Chapter Seven

Sonic and Sally sat in her hut. Nicole beeped. "Ready, Sally."

Sally stirred. "Nicole, transpose target data onto the large hologram of Robotropolis."

The map—built by Uncle Chuck—suddenly grew seven red dots. Most were around the periphery, but a few were deep in Robotropolis, and one was actually on the HQ building.

"What's that one?" asked Sonic, pointing to the one on HQ.

"Nicole, add mission profiles to the map."

Over the dots appeared words giving brief summations of the mission. One was GENERATOR THREE, 76%. Another was WEAPONS FACTORY, 34%.

Over the command center was this:

ASSASSINATE ROBOTNIK, 5%

Sonic laughed. "Gutsy for you, Sal!"

"Hey, just because I don't try to get myself killed, unlike some hedgehogs who shall remain nameless, doesn't mean I can't aim high once in a while. But these are just potential targets. I don't think I'd call that one unless the situation was really good or really bad."

"This isn't really good?"

"Not good enough for that mission. Taking out the mainframe hasn't changed the situation enough. To get a "Really good" for that mission, we'd need a small army and an all-but-destroyed Robotropolis. This one, on the other paw…" she pointed.

"A microchip factory? Bo-ring! Why that?"

"Sonic, that factory produces microchips used in everything Robotnik makes! To make things easier, he standardized all systems to use those chips. So if we cut into his supply of chips, we hurt his manufacture of absolutely everything. This factory was undergoing renovation before tonight, which means that all its new equipment hasn't even started yet. It also means that Robotnik already has a chip shortage."

"'Cause it sure wasn't working while he was updatin', right?"

"Right. Which means that if we hit it, it will be even longer before Robotnik can start building things again."

Sonic looked at it again, then looked up at Sally, puzzled. "I thought you said we bummed out if the chances were below fifty-fifty."

Sally made a Mobian gesture indicating go on, go on.

"Sal, 41%?"

She smiled. "Want to find out how gutsy I am?"

"I don't think so."

"We're gonna do it."

"Cool."

"Just like that? You change your mind just like that?"

"What's the point of arguin'? I've changed sneaker sizes since the last time I won."

"You are no fun, Sonic Hedgehog."

"Your fault, Sal."

"Sure, blame me."

"No prob."

She gave him a push backwards and laughed.

"So, what do we do to Tails next?"

Sally looked at her schedule. "Intensive personal combat," she read, her voice draining of enthusiasm. "Since he's been to Robotropolis, there's no point in beating around the bushes anymore. Get Rotor and the two of you can haul some Swatbot shells out there."

"What kind of personal combat? If you think he can spin, you've got another thing comin'!"

"Just his body, mostly. Ropes, we use those a lot. He did well with a knife, see if you can work in some of that."

"Sal, I don't know how to knife-fight!"

"No, but you do know Swatbots. You can tell him what to go for, how to approach a Swatbot. He was really scared tonight. Banging around a few shells will help increase his confidence."

"I hope you're right, Sal."

"So do I. Now that we're doing this, I want to get it right." There was cold silence. "I hope he still loves me after this," said Sally.

"I do, too. Not that he'll have a hard time lovin' you. It's me I'm worried about."

"Sonic, that was such a nice thing you said I'll overlook your rampant egoism."

"Fifty-fifty ain't so bad." He stood. "Well, I'm gonna scarf some chili-dogs and sack out. Anything else, Sal?"

She shook her head. "I'll be up for a while yet. See you tomorrow, Sonic."

He left. Sally worked for almost an hour, planning her future and Tails'. Then she put everything up and headed to bed.

When everything was quiet, she shook from head to toe.

Then she slept.

* * *

On the other side of Mobius, as Sally worked herself to sleep, Jan's alarm rang yet again.

'What am I doing?' thought Tosul. 'That was pure instinct. Stupid of me to ring Jan's alarm in her condition.'

Tosul began calling the few rested combat teams. For a few moments, he considered calling up Gaunt, but decided that there was no point. He couldn't add anything to the situation.

Tosul picked out the individual magnetic signatures the monitors detected and almost laughed. A mere fifteen Swatbots, and their tank was an older model. Its guns had a narrow arc of fire, and tracked vehicles were so hard to maneuver in the mountains. He could handle this mission without Jan.

The combat teams entered the command room, but instead of the grim anticipation Tosul normally felt coming from them, he felt everyone acting sluggish and depressed.

Normally they would be unenthusiastic but willing, but that spirit was gone this morning. They were unmoving. The unspoken consensus that everyone in the room heard was this: They were not going to fight today. The cost was too high.

Naturally, Tosul thought, now alarmed. We lost so many yesterday, including Jan. Jan was what kept them together. Tosul might be able to command them, but he couldn't lead them. He thought these things with growing panic.

As sudden as the flip of a switch, the air in the room changed. Tosul felt his gaze being drawn inexorably away from the monitors. He looked to the entrance and joined the stunned silence of the combat teams.

It was hard to tell whether it was Jan that had entered the room or a goddess in Jan's form. Her steps were small and elegant, for she wore no shoes. Her fur radiated light and hope; her eyes sparkled with the light of the stars.

She was naked as the dawn at sea. For the first time in a decade, she wore no armor. She carried no weapon. She simply walked as a native of her planet.

Her fur was dirty and crusted with dry sweat and, intellectually, Tosul was able to see this. But her beauty, that of an animal uninhibited by the burdens of the war, was something almost beyond comprehension.

The common perception had been that Jan had totally, catastrophically collapsed. Seeing her now was like watching her rise from her tomb—not running from it, for it was long since defeated, but walking, dancing almost, as if her minced steps were a form of barely-concealed joy that her battle was over.

"What is the situation?"

Tosul returned to reality. He struggled to answer her—for how does one answer a reincarnated legend? "A minor threat, Jan, you should get some rest… It's not worth your attention."

She nodded serenely, but didn't leave. One by one, she made eye contact with everyone in the room.

"I want everyone to listen to me," she said. Her voice was hoarse and cracked from the previous day, but everyone clung to it, strengthened it, made it real for each other. She was saying it for them, and they would help her say it.

"Yesterday, I fought with death."

Stunned as they were to even see her, these words knocked the animals senseless. There was hardly the sound of a breath to interrupt Jan now, yet she was patient, taking her time and making sure all knew what she was saying.

"Death had been making inroads into my soul for a while now. In every manner I've decayed, and for a while it seemed as if the cost of my continuing to live was too high—not just for myself, but to those who love and depend on me.

"I'd gone so far down the road of death that I even thought that dying now would be a blessing to you all."

Tosul was engrossed totally in her words, falling into them. The Swatbots were long since forgotten, insignificant compared to hearing her now.

"I sold out a part of myself eight years ago, so the past eight years I've been in Hell. I mean that literally. I may never recover those lost years. You can say all you want that those years were awful years and that they deserve to be lost. But by denying those years to myself, I haven't really been alive—I was in death's power even then.

"This conflict finally came to a head yesterday. I had become death, the destroyer of worlds. The decisions I've made have ended with animals dying, but only yesterday did I actually kill. I realized then what had happened to me, so I fought it. And all last night I wrestled with death."

She smiled. "Since I'm standing here, you can guess who won. But that win came at a price. I ripped out the part of me that death lived in, so some of death's blessings are gone now."

Only Tosul fully realized what that meant. She undid her programming, he thought incredulously. She'll never become a computer again. She ripped out all the wires, all the commands. It's over.

"I'll never be as good a commander as I was the past ten years. I'll make more mistakes. I'll get tired. In all probability, I'll end up getting more of you killed this way. That's why I've come to ask you this morning.

"Will you follow me?"

There was no response; no one was quite sure how to answer.

"My question is this," she said. "I'm not as good of a commander now. My abilities will fall. But at the same time, I've won back the parts of me that have been missing these past ten years. So I've got to ask you, was the trade-off worth it? Do you want Jan, the flawed animal, or Jan, the battle computer?"

Tosul felt his body move without his commands. "I want you, Jan, as you are."

There was an air of agreement with Tosul's words, an air that grew into a whisper, then a murmur, then a mood, then a clamor, and finally an uproar. Yes, they said—Jan, you are what we want. You can't love a battle computer, and we'll live with your faults.

Jan's smile lit up the room. "Good, because that's the only Jan we have in stock right now!" There was laughter. It never occurred to Tosul to worry about what the outcome would have been like if they'd wanted the computer, after all.

"I have one more thing to say," she said. "Something is happening back on the Mainland. I don't know exactly what, but today I felt something for the first time in a long while. Hope.

"It's lonely here. Oftentimes we forget even the other Hives that fight with us. But animals all over the planet are bleeding and dying just like us to stop Robotnik once and for all time. So I want you to keep one thing in mind.

"Stay alive! We can't stop fighting now. Animals everywhere will bring him down, and we have to do our part. The way to do that is to survive, force him to devote Swatbots to stopping us. If he won't send bots at us, we'll go picking fights! So I want everyone to stay alive, because…"

She stopped, and everyone remained motionless, dependent upon her words, soaking them in to realize their meanings.

"Because for the first time in a long time, I know we have a chance. Soon, very soon, we'll have the chance to make something grow."

Tears came to her eyes—but tears quite unlike the others that had streaked her muzzle over the past days.

"I love you all," she said. "The day of happiness is coming. We all have to believe that, because once we believe it, we can make it happen. And I want everyone to see that day."

She glanced at the situation map, then back to the animals. "Move out," she said. "Head for grid 1. Tosul will direct you to the appropriate entrances soon."

With a giant "Hoo-rah!" they left the room.

She turned back to Tosul, who was staring at her in awe. "Tosul," she said, "tell me the situation."

He fumbled. "Well, um, as I said, I don't think it's worth…"

She laughed lightly. "Tosul, this is the first fight in eight years that I feel good about. Please don't tell me to go away."

Somehow, his role as coordinator managed to overcome the meltdown in his brain. "I already checked with Observatory, there's nothing in the air. Just fifteen Swatbots in grid 1, block F. Also a type C tank."

"Type C? Right… I want one team to be the bait, here in front. Tell them to be in cover, really good cover; we don't want them exposing themselves to fire, since they won't be the ones doing the damage. One good burst of fire from them, then they should hit the rocks. Once the Swatbots commit and march forward, we expose the entrance on the right canyon wall and flank them with the second team. At the same time, the third team will emerge from hiding and bushwhack the tank with torches."

He nodded, finally understanding. "The tank's firing arcs don't allow it to turn enough to protect itself."

"And with the other animals firing at the Swatbots, that gives the tank exactly zero chance of survival."

"Where do you want the third team to hide?"

"In this entrance, behind our ambush."

"But if we let them get to one of our entrances, won't they find it?"

"No. Those Swatbots aren't looking for entrances."

"What?"

"It's a joy ride. They know we suffered heavy casualties yesterday. They're just checking to see if we can still fight." She smiled. "Which is why they must never return to base."

To his credit, Tosul had managed to position the teams while talking to Jan about what, exactly, they would be doing. They waited but another two minutes until everything was set.

Jan picked up the intercom, connecting her voice to the three rooms in which the animals were hiding. "All teams, on my command, move out." She took a deep breath. "For Mobius!" she cried.

"For Jan!" twenty-nine animals shouted in reply.

Jan watched the map as the battle began and Swatbot signatures began to disappear…

* * *

FIN

* * *

Tails' training continues in: "Pushing"


End file.
